More Than Meets The Eye (and everything else)
by koshersaltiness
Summary: Blake needs more excitement in her life. She knows she’s ready to move forward and enjoy things. Blake thinks that her life may turn around after meeting a sweet blonde that made her feel happy. Blake doesn’t expect her new friend, Yang Xiao Long, to be more than meets the eye. She will realize how extremely wrong she is. Blake’s life may head for mystery and danger.


Blake Belladonna lived a slow, dreary, boring life. She was a twenty-four year old who had already been through what seemed like multiple mid life crisis. The worst part was that she never could figure out why she was constantly bored. She had a happy childhood with loving parents and (while not many) some friends who meant the world to her. Again she tried to pretend she didn't know the answer to her dismay, but images of his face flashed through her mind. Of course it's because of him. He's the one who ruined everything.

Blake was so lost in her trance she didn't realize someone had began speaking. To her.

"-so what do you think I should do Blake? You're the best one in the office so I figured you could help". Spoke the extremely awkward newbie Jaune.

Jaune always meant the best but his work was... not the best. Blake always ended up being the one to help him since her co workers had since the beginning had a low tolerance for poor Jaune Arc.

Blake turned her chair to face him, "What is it now Jaune?"

He shuffled around sheepishly, "Umm well... Mr. Ozpin said that the data from the new reports had to be entered into the system so I tried to do that-"

Blake sighed and cut him off abruptly, "but you don't know how to on your own do you?"

The poor scrawny man opened his mouth to retort but soon dropped his head in defeat and nodded. You would think someone interning for a data entry clerk would learn how to enter data. But as always, Jaune surprised Blake everyday again and again.

Jaune was on his way after he tried and failed to understand Blake's explanation.That left Blake Belladonna back to her desk, staring at the screen, and entering the seemingly never ending codes. This was her whole day. Wake up, go to the cafe, then off to work.

She liked to believe that she had always been this mundane, but she knew it wasn't true. Even looking at herself in the mirror revealed how much she changed. Back in High School and even part of College Blake had been fairly fashionable. Fitted blouses with dark skinny jeans that complimented her jet black hair. Not much but some makeup to draw attention to her sharp golden eyes. Anymore however, her attire was as drab as her job. She knew being unsatisfied started with him, but it was the other things as well. Her dream of becoming an author long forgotten, old paint brushes that were once used daily sat stiff in an old bucket, and even reading books wasn't enjoyable like it used to be. She just didn't fall in love in what she read anymore and it was honestly kind of scary.

At eight o'clock she stood up from her work space and headed out the door. Not feeling like cooking, Blake decided to stop and get some take out. She decided to be adventurous today. She would go to the Chinese restaurant across from the other Chinese restaurant she always got food.

"Man Belladonna why doesn't someone write a book about your life", she muttered to herself.

It was getting late so there were not very many people in the establishment, which made Blake relax a little bit. While waiting in line however, she spotted a young woman standing by the side of the counter and talking to one of the workers. Blake could only see part of her side profile, but knew that the woman was beautiful. Soft features, tanned skin, and long legs that made her seem to tower everyone in the building. The most eye catching feature, however was her hair. Long and golden with curls that looked so thick they could probably break any comb that dared try to untangle them.

Blake didn't mean to stare at

the stranger but that was a bad habit she had always acquired even when she was little. Plus, Blake lived in Vale her whole life and had never seen the blonde woman before. Again like earlier in the day, someone was in the middle of talking to her while she was day dreaming.

As she waited for her food, she heard the bells on the door ring and the mass of blonde hair exit the building. She didn't have time to think anything about it as her food was handed to her.

The night was cool and the ground was slick from the rain that fell just earlier in the day. It was actually very calming Blake thought. She could hear the faint sounds of the city and the soft murmurs of people telling loved ones goodnight. This was the time Blake almost felt like she could turn her life around. Be excited. Be interested. Be happy. Walking down the cool sidewalk and hearing the cries of the city made her feel like she belonged. That maybe she was important. That if she disappeared right this instant it would almost seem like something bad happened to her as she was walking home to an apartment full of people who loved her. Or maybe just one person who did.

The dreary thoughts began to cloud over once again until fear suddenly shot through her core. As she rounded a corner she was a mere inch away from a man twice her size glaring down at her. Blake gulped and whipped around but was stopped by a huge hand that was a vice grip on her wrist. Tears stung at Blake's eyes and she tried but failed miserably to break the man's grasp. Just as his other hand rose up, another hand protectively gripped Blake's shoulder on the other side. Blonde hair came into view and stood in front of her protectively.

"Hey I don't know who you think you are," the woman pushed him hard and his gripped on Blake faltered, "but get your hands off of her". She threatened the giant man.

The Goliath of a human stared at the women and seemed to ponder. He stared directly at Blake, almost as if he were searching for answers deep within. Then, he turned around and walked back into the dark alley without speaking a single word.

The mystery woman turned to face Blake, "Are you okay?" A surprisingly soft voice questioned.

Blake was stunned by the vibrancy of the woman's eyes. A gorgeous violet that Blake had never seen before.

"Y-yeah I think so. I'm just kind of shaken up that's all," Blake confessed.

"I swear people can be horrible can't they? Do you want me to walk you home?" She asked.

Blake blamed her nerves on the encounter with the man from earlier, which definitely was the biggest factor, but couldn't deny that the girl made her feel strange. She couldn't place it, but something about her was almost, unreal.

The girl took Blake's silence in the wrong way and stammered, "Oh sorry! That probably sounds really weird since you just met me and with the guy earlier that-"

"No! Umm sorry I was just... I'm still shaken up. I would really appreciate it if you did," Blake spoke hoping for a positive reaction from the girl.

She was met with a large smile showcasing white teeth and wrinkles at the corner of her eyes. Already Blake felt more at ease just from the smile from the sunny girl.

They opted to take a different route that seemed safer with more houses nearby.

They walked in comfortable silence before the girl spoke up, "My name is Yang by the way." She stated lightly to the dark haired girl.

"I'm Blake and I just remembered I never said it, but thank you for what you did back there," She said making eye contact.

Yang rubbed the back of her neck, "No it was the right thing to do. People should always help each other when someone needs it. Even if you don't know the". The golden haired girl stated in a rather serious manner.

This had caught Blake slightly off guard. She wasn't expecting an answer so honest and so genuine from someone who was practically a stranger. Blake had to admit the more she walked with Yang, the less nervous and safer she felt. She could tell Yang liked to talk as the blonde questioned her about Blake's life. Where does she work? What does she do for fun in town? If she had ever seen a bear in town because apparently Yang had heard that that had happened years ago in Vale. Blake let out a small laugh as she told Yang she had never seen one and Yang's face contorted into a small pout.

"What about you? What do you do?" Blake asked. Genuinely curious what this unique girl does for a living.

Yang paused for a split second but then spoke, "Oh I work as a hospitalist. Basically help people who are going through treatment or talk to patients who don't have much time left," Yang said somewhat solemnly, "but it's a great job. It feels good making people happy before they have to go, but yeah nothing too exciting about me".

It was strange to Blake because the more she talked to Yang, the sweeter Yang seemed to become. Blake could tell the blonde could have a temper or be intimidating if needed to be, but she truly seemed kind. It was so odd because when you first meet people they have a facade. They're fake nice to you because they know they'll never see you again or that if they continue seeing you, they can eventually drop the act and treat you like any other person. With Yang, Blake knew she was just nice. She had only known the blonde for about an hour but she could tell her biggest motivation in life was to help others and Blake respected the optimism the blonde held.

"I hope this isn't too invasive," Blake began, "but where in town do you live?"

Yang opened her mouth and almost spoke, but caught herself before she did.

"We turn around this corner right?" The girl asked very quickly in order to change the subject. This was strange to Blake, but she didn't question it.

Soon the paired approached Blake's apartment. "So that's why you want to move huh? Bookworms probably wouldn't want to climb all those stairs," Yang teased with a cheeky grin.

"Oh ha ha. Very clever insult there," Blake teased back with a smile. Happy that Yang had remembered telling her earlier that she wanted a different apartment.

Blake looked down and noticed the red marks on her arm. She had almost completely forgotten about the man attacking her. Yang had been a distraction since she met her. But, Blake actually didn't mind this distraction.

"Well," Yang started, "I'll let you enjoy the rest of your night. I'm new to Vale so you'll probably see me wandering around the streets looking for a grocery store". The blonde laughed causing Blake to snort.

"You're new to Vale?" Blake asked and received a tense nod from Yang that the bookworm didn't notice.

Blake thought for a second and took a deep breath and squeaked, "Well I've lived here my whole life and umm... if you need anything-" Blake stopped speaking and reached in her purse for a piece of paper and quickly wrote her number down. "you could call me". She finished nervously.

Yang seemed taken aback by Blake's, but plastered on her brilliant smile, "Thanks that would be great. I don't know hardly anyone here so a familiar face would be great!"

Blake let out a breath of relief and smiled back at the girl. Yang said her goodbyes and promised Blake not to worry about her getting home because she had called a friend to pick her up by a bus stop down the street.

Blake sat down in her living room and felt surprisingly...content maybe satisfied. You wouldn't think this would be the case because the night had started out with her getting attacked, but ended with conversing with a beautiful and kind woman. She had even felt a large amount of pride of offering Yang her phone number. Sure people had given Blake her number here or there, but Blake Belladonna making the first move on the cute girl? Unheard of. She shook her head and told herself that she didn't even want a relationship at the moment. Which was true, but she was still happy she had met the curly haired woman with striking eyes.

Yang walked briskly down the alley. She checked her phone for directions once more but still didn't see him. She rounded a sharp corner and almost collided with the giant man who had almost attacked the dark haired girl from earlier.

Yang felt a surge of anger and pushed him back, "What was that Junior?!" She yelled and continued to shove him.

Junior steadied himself and looked down at the girl, "I saw her staring at you in the restaurant. I was just going to scare her. See who she was and make sure she's not one of them. Our cover can't be blown and you know it".

Yang calmed down some and spoke, "Still you shouldn't scare people half to death. She has a normal desk job. I doubt she has any idea what happens around here".

"Still we don't need people interested in you. You're not staying here and technically, you don't exist. Did you say anything to her?" He questioned as his dark eyes narrowed into slits.

"Nothing about me. Just the basic information. Only the surface level." Yang shot back.

"And she was fine with just that right? She didn't want to continue talking or come inside the hose", he asked again with those eyes trying to bare into her soul.

"No she didn't," Yang curtly responded. Ignoring the feel of the paper in her pocket.

Junior began to turn and walk away but spoke one last time, "Just remember, let no one get close. You may want a social life but," he glanced back, "think of all the people who's live's are at stake". And with that the burly man was gone.

Yang's breathing quickened a little. She shouldn't think anything about this. Junior always lectures her on this stuff. However, this time was different. Part of her wanted to keep the number and call. She did enjoy the dark haired girl's presence. She could tell she was sad and lonely and Yang wished she could maybe stay and make it better. But Yang also knew if she wants to help all of the people in danger, then she can't have anything holding her down. She reluctantly dropped the number and let it get carried away in the breeze. Yang Xiao Long could not exist long in Vale. She was just going to be here until her job was done.


End file.
